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The Catholic Church in the 21st Century: New Directions, Ancient Convictions - George Weigel
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, is a Catholic theologian and frequent commentator on issues of religion and public life. Weigel is the author or editor of more than twenty books, including The End and the Beginning: Pope John Paul II-The Victory of Freedom, the Last Years, the Legacy; Practicing Catholic: Essays Historical, Literary, Sporting, and Elegiac; and, most recently, Evangelical Catholicism: Deep Reform in the 21st-Century Church. A frequent guest on television and radio, he is also Vatican analyst for NBC News. His weekly column, "The Catholic Difference," is syndicated to sixty newspapers. Msgr. James A. Supple Lecture Series

Endangered Languages: A Poet's Journey into Global Cultures - Bob Holman
8:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Bob Holman is a poet, spoken word artist, professor, activist, filmmaker and soon-to-be host of a PBS documentary on endangered languages. His focus on oral traditions has included a study of the origins of Hiphop in West Africa and inspired his current work on the cultural crisis brought about when a language is lost. It is the subject of his latest PBS project, "Listen Up! Language Matters with Bob Holman." Holman's new book, Sing This One Back to Me, includes translations of poems as sung in the griot tradition of West African storytelling. Dubbed a member of the "Poetry Pantheon" by the New York Times Magazine, he produced the PBS Series "United States of Poetry," was the original Slammaster and a director of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe, and has performed in places ranging from Madison Square Gardens to Addis Ababa. The Goldtrap Lecture in English

Brain Fix: Using Neuroscience and Nutrition as a Metaphor for Recovery - Dr. Ralph Carson
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Dr. Ralph Carson is a clinical nutritionist and exercise physiologist who has been involved in the clinical treatment of addictions, obesity, and eating disorders for more than thirty years. He currently manages Oprah Winfrey's web page on eating disorders and is the consultant for Pine Grove's eating disorder program. Dr. Carson is also a nutritional advisor to numerous university athletic departments, including the University of Tennessee National Basketball Champion Lady Volunteers. With a Bachelor of Health Science degree from Duke University Medical School and a PhD in nutrition from Auburn University, he offers a unique understanding of health, wellness, exercise, and nutrition and how they all affect brain health. Eating Disorder Awareness Week

An American Memoir: Japanese American Internment - Neil Nakadate
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - Neil Nakadate is the author of Looking After Minidoka: An American Memoir. During World War II, 110,000 Japanese Americans were removed from their homes and incarcerated by the U.S. government. In Looking After Minidoka, the "internment camp" years become a prism for understanding three generations of Japanese American life, from immigration to the end of the twentieth century. Nakadate is also the author of Understanding Jane Smiley and coauthor of A Rhetoric of Doing: Essays on Written Discourse in Honor of James L Kinneavy and Writing in the Liberal Arts Tradition: A Rhetoric With Readings. He has a doctorate in English and American Literature from Indiana University and is Iowa State University Professor Emeritus of English. No podcast available due to technical difficulties.

Chinese Painting History and Techniques - Visiting Artists Discuss Their Work
5:30 PM – Kocimski Auditorium, 101 College of Design - Five distinguished artists and visiting scholars from Wuhan University in China's western Hubei Province will speak about their work and traditional Chinese painting techniques. They will discuss unique methods and styles of Chinese water color painting, sketch drawing, engraving, photography, ceramic tile painting, and how traditional cultural elements are incorporated into contemporary work. The artists include Professor Guan Jiaqing; Associate Professors Wen Qingwu, Xia Lijun and Zhou Xiumei; and Lecturer Wang Xin. The artists will be in residence at Iowa State February 17-21, and their work will be featured in an exhibition February 12-21 in the College of Design's Gallery 181.

Religious Freedom for All: Living Together with Our Deepest Differences - Os Guinness
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Os Guinness is an author and social critic who writes frequently about modern American culture. The author or editor of thirty books, he focuses on how the worlds of scholarship and ordinary life overlap, particularly as they touch on issues of faith. His new book, The Global Public Square, champions the freedom of thought, conscience and religion as a way to negotiate differences in public life. Born in China and educated in Britain, Os Guinness now lives in the United States. He is a former BBC reporter; has been a guest scholar at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Studies and at the Brookings Institution; and served as executive director of The Williamsburg Charter Foundation, a bicentennial celebration of the First Amendment. Veritas Forum

Multiple Ways to Love: A Valentine's Day Poetry Reading - Eduardo Corral
4:00 PM – Gallery, Memorial Union - Poet Eduardo C. Corral earned degrees from Arizona State University and the University of Iowa Writers' Workshop. His debut collection of poetry, Slow Lightning, won the Yale Younger Poets Prize, making him the first Latino recipient of the award. His work is recognized for its exploration of Latino identity and gender and sexuality. His other honors include a "Discovery"/The Nation Award, the J. Howard and Barbara M. J. Wood Prize from Poetry, and writing residencies from the MacDowell Colony and Yaddo. He is a CantoMundo fellow and has held writing residencies at Colgate University, Bucknell University and Columbia University.

Evolution and Computation - John Mayfield
7:00 PM – Sun Room, Memorial Union - John Mayfield is Emeritus Professor of Genetics, Development, and Cell Biology at Iowa State and former associate dean of the Graduate College. His new book, The Engine of Complexity, Evolution as Computation, grew out of his interest in the relationship between computation and biological process. It is a new approach to understanding how evolution works based on information theory and computational science. He will discuss how general concepts of computational evolution can help explain not only how life is possible but also how human technology and the complex outcomes of human society are possible.

How Women Lead and the Difference It Makes - Melissa Harris-Perry
7:00 PM – Great Hall, Memorial Union - Melissa Harris-Perry hosts a weekend MSNBC program and is a professor of political science at Tulane University, where she directs the Anna Julia Cooper Project on Gender, Race, and Politics in the South. The "Melissa Harris-Perry Show," features analysis and guest-driven discussion of political, cultural and community issues. Topics often reflect Perry's academic research interests in the challenges facing contemporary black Americans. Harris-Perry is the author of Sister Citizen: Shame, Stereotypes, and Black Women in America as well as Barbershops, Bibles, and BET: Everyday Talk and Black Political Thought. She has a PhD in political science from Duke University. Book signing & reception to follow. Part of the Women and Leadership Series.

Understanding Black Holes and Active Galaxies - Meg Urry
8:00 PM – Dolezal Auditorium, 127 Curtiss Hall - Meg Urry is chair of the Physics Department at Yale University and director of the Yale Center for Astronomy and Astrophysics. She investigates the formation and evolution of the super-massive black holes that astrophysicists believe anchor each galaxy. Prior to joining the faculty at Yale, Urry was a senior scientist at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which runs the Hubble Space Telescope for NASA. The first tenured female physicist at Yale, she is also known for her efforts to increase the number of women in the physical sciences, for which she won the 2010 Women in Space Science Award from the Adler Planetarium. Part of the Women in STEM Series.